evie black
Linthicum,#2Author of original report
Thu, March 20, 2014
Dr William Rader SMA Patient Daniel Sacripante Dies after Multiple Stem Cell Injections- Parents/Sales Reps Justin and Connie Sacripante Scam Patients in Pyramid Scheme.
Justin and Connie Sacripante took their son, Daniel, to the Fraud, William Rader, in the Dominican Republic numerous times for stem cell injections. I met Daniel and his parents on their second trip. He was about 16 months old at the time. I was told by Daniel’s father that Daniel had SMA type I, a degenerative genetic muscular disorder, that hasn’t a cure and eventually is fatal. The cause of death from this disorder is the result of respiratory complications. Daniel’s father and mother claimed that Daniel’s quality of life had improved, since receiving the stem cells and they had hope that Daniel would eventually be cured. However, upon looking at Daniel, I was shocked that, despite having a second dose of the stem cells, he lay in a car seat, immobile, paralyzed from head to toe. Although Daniel appeared to be cognizant, his mind was trapped in his paralyzed body, fed by an NG tube and he was unable to do anything but see, hear, smell and breathe. My thoughts could not imagine the torture of having your body submersed in concrete and head in a vise, without being to eat, drink, talk, etc. This is the quality of life Daniel experienced.
When I arrived home, I did some research on SMA. There are three types of SMA and Daniel had the worst. Most children with SMA type I do not survive past 2 but some surpass the average mortality age. Each case is different and depends on the child and the respiratory treatments, chosen by the parents. Some parents care more about what’s best for the child instead of their own selfish desires, by keeping their child as comfortable as possible, without prolonging the child’s life. Others unable to accept reality, keep their child alive by artificial means, as their child suffers with continuous bouts of infections and a host of other problems. However, whatever the treatments, the fact remains that ALL children with SMA type I die at any early age. Daniel’s situation was not an anomaly and the stem cell injections did not in any way, shape or form improve or prolong Daniel’s life at all, despite his parents assertations. This became clear as Daniel’s condition progressively worsened and he ultimately died in Dec 2012 at 6 years old.
What makes this tragedy worse than it appears is that Daniel’s death was in vain. Instead of making a horrific situation into something that would prevent others with diseases from clinging to false hope and throwing a great of money away, the Sacripantes profited from other people’s misfortunate circumstances. The Sacripante’s worked as sales reps for the fraud William Rader ,who scammed them and they in turn scammed others. In doing this , they not only aided and abetted a criminal but engaged in lies, omissions of the truth and fraud, for their own self interest. Each patient that the Sacripante’s recruited into the scam, never improved and lost at least 30K, while the Sacripante’s were compensated for their patient recruitment.
However, what one does to others, one does to oneself and the Sacripantes, whether realizing it or not, are experiencing what this means. Not only have they lost their son, but they have lost each other. Justin and Connie are no longer together. Justin has found a new younger model to replace Connie and Connie has found an older model to replace Justin but neither Justin or Connie will ever be able to replace Daniel and Connie is too old to have another child. Moreover, they are only fooling themselves to think that these new love interests will ease their sorrow and pain. because each time they think of Daniel or look at one of Daniel’s photos, they will be forced to live with their guilt. Even more so, since they believe that Daniel is watching them from heaven and, by doing so, he knows exactly what they have done.